What To Do With Crusty Snow

Happy New Year! 2010 got off to a great start in the Twin Cities with sunshine, below zero temps and no wind. It looked so wonderful through my porch window that I decided to take the dog outside and play. I zipped up my hooded parka, pulled on my moon boots and fleece gloves, put on sunglasses and headed into the cold brilliance. The dog bounded across the patio and dove shoulder first into a snowbank to roll with doggy abandon. I've heard animals align their spines by rolling on the ground. I like that he's giving himself a snow bath.

We set off across the yard, and within a few paces I realized this was going to be much more of a workout than I'd bargained for. Freezing rain last week had created a six-inch deep crust over a foot and a half of snow. The crust was strong enough to hold the bunnies that scamper across our yard, but not me or the dog. Every stride I took involved stepping up onto the ice crust, pausing atop it for a brief instant, then crashing through and sinking into the snow. A snow step aerobics routine worthy of significant Wii Fit points.

The dog was struggling with the same problem, flying around the yard in a leap-sink-leap motion. It was too nice to go back indoors, but the crusty snow was no fun to walk around in. It was too cold and crumbly to make snowballs or snowmen. I love making things out of snow. Here's a snowman I built in October 2009 during a ridiculously early snowfall.

What could be done with this hard crusted snow?

I built a dry stack garden wall. I broke up random chunks and fit them together. Granted, I didn't base it properly and the construction technique is crude, but I like the way the sun shines through the chinks.

It was slow going at first because the dog kept trying to eat the wall, but I distracted him with icicles and work continued apace. Note the detail at the top of the wall. I think if a person took time to cut rectangles out of the crusty snow it could be made into an amazing fort or igloo.

After the wall was done we sat in the snow, soaked up the low sunshine and listened to the chatter of chickadees visiting a bird feeder in a nearby tree. It was a perfect way to start the new year.

Have you built a snow fort? Comment on this post with a link to a picture so we can see it. How did you spend your first day of the new year?